KR20060060497A - Image forming apparatus and controlling method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

An image forming apparatus and a control method thereof are disclosed. The image forming apparatus according to the present invention includes a replacement product management memory which is provided in a recording medium storage medium and stores a permission list which is a list of identification information of a device which is permitted to use the image forming apparatus, and identification information of the host apparatus. And a first control unit for processing to read the permission list if received, and for stopping the printing of the document to be printed if the identification information of the host apparatus does not exist in the permission list. Thus, indiscriminate use of the image forming apparatus can be prevented, thereby reducing waste of consumables.

Record storage media, license list, substitute management memory

Description

Image forming apparatus and controlling method

1 is a block diagram of a printing system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

2 is a block diagram of a printer and a host device according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention; and

3 is a flowchart illustrating a method of controlling a printer according to the present invention.

Explanation of symbols on the main parts of the drawings

160: recording medium storage medium 165: replacement management memory

180: first control unit 210: second input unit

250: license management program 270: second control unit

The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and a control method thereof, and more particularly, to an image forming apparatus having a substitute product management memory in a recording medium storage medium and a control method thereof.

The image forming apparatus refers to an apparatus for printing an image corresponding to input original image data onto a recording medium such as printing paper. Examples of the image forming apparatus include a printer, a copier, a facsimile, and the like. In addition, the image forming apparatus is connected to a host device such as a personal computer, a notebook computer, a portable information processing device such as a PDA, and the like, and performs various data and information exchange with the host device. Hereinafter, the image forming apparatus and the host apparatus are collectively referred to as an image forming system.

Toner is generally used as a recording agent in an image forming apparatus, and a toner cartridge is generally used as a recording medium storage medium. Recently, however, when a recording medium storage medium is manufactured, a recording medium management memory for managing the recording medium stored therein is installed. The recording management data is stored in the recording management memory. As recording agent management data, data on the remaining amount of the recording agent is typically applied.

Since recording media are usually sold at a high price, it is economically burdened for the image forming apparatus manager to frequently refill the recording materials through image forming operations for unnecessary work documents or to purchase the recording media frequently. Can be. However, the host apparatus and the image forming apparatus can be connected and used through a simple operation, and thus it is very difficult to prevent an image forming process of unnecessary work documents in the image forming apparatus. Therefore, there is an urgent need for a technique for collectively managing the image forming process in the image forming apparatus.

 The technical problem to be solved by the present invention, in order to solve the above problems, the identification information of the determination target host device is present in the permission list including the identification information of the user host device in the replacement product management memory of the recording medium storage medium. The present invention provides an image forming apparatus and a control method thereof capable of suppressing indiscriminate use of the image forming apparatus by determining the use of the image forming apparatus of the determination target host apparatus on the basis of whether or not the determination is made.

In order to solve the above technical problem, the image forming apparatus according to the present invention, the image forming apparatus capable of performing a print job based on the recording material stored in the recording medium storage medium of the data to be printed from the host device In the recording medium storage medium, the substitutes management memory is stored in the permission list which is a list of the identification information of the device that is permitted to use the image forming apparatus, and identification information of the host device from the host device; Is received, the first control unit is configured to read the license list, and if identification information of the host apparatus is not present in the read permission list, a first control unit which processes to stop printing of the document to be printed. It may include.

When the identification information of the host apparatus exists in the read permission list, the first controller may process the printing operation of the print target document to be performed.

The first image forming apparatus displays a disallowed notification message indicating that disallowing use of the image forming apparatus generated by the first controller when the identification information of the host apparatus does not exist in the read permission list. The display unit may further include.

In addition, in order to solve the above technical problem, the control method of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention, it is possible to perform a print job based on the recording material stored in the recording medium storage medium data of the print target document from the host device A control method of an image forming apparatus, wherein when identification information of the host apparatus is received from the host apparatus, identification information of a device that is permitted to use the image forming apparatus from a substitute product management memory provided in the recording medium storage medium. Reading a permission list which is a list of the identification list; determining whether identification information of the host device exists in the read permission list; and determining the identification of the host device in the permission list. If the information does not exist, it may include the step of stopping the printing of the document to be printed.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, in describing the present invention, when it is determined that a detailed description of a related known function or configuration may unnecessarily obscure the subject matter of the present invention, a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

In the following description, for the convenience of description, the description will be made by applying a printer as an image forming apparatus, but the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto.

1 is a block diagram of a printing system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, the printing system includes a printer 100, an administrator host device 201, and at least one user host device 203 or 205 and is connected through a wired / wireless network. Although the first user host device 203 and the second user host device 205 are illustrated as at least one user host device in the present embodiment, more than one user host device may be applied.

For example, the administrator host device 201 inputs identification information of the first user host device 203 in the user interface 255 of the license management program 250 as shown in FIG. If the identification information is not input, the identification information of the input first user host device 203 is transmitted to the printer 100 and stored. In this case, when a print command for the work document is input to the first user host device 203, the identification information of the first user host device 203 is stored, so that the print job for the work document therefrom is performed. On the other hand, when a print command for the work document is input to the second user host device 205, the identification information of the second user host device 205 is not stored, and the print job for the work document therefrom is stopped. . The identification information of the first host device 203 input here is updated in the permission list stored in the substitute product management memory 165 of FIG. 2.

In the following, by inputting a print command for a job document like the first or second user host apparatuses 203 and 205, identification information of each user host apparatus is transmitted to the printer 100, and the identification information is a permission list. The user host device that is determined to exist in the network is called a determination target host device.

2 is a block diagram of a printer and a host device according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. However, for convenience of description, the host device 200 is described so that the host device 200 simultaneously performs the roles of the administrator host device and the determination target host device.

However, as shown in FIG. 1, the manager host device and the determination target host device may be applied as different devices, or may be applied as the same device as described below. The scope of the present invention is not limited thereby.

Referring to FIG. 1, the printer 100 may include a first input unit 110, a first display unit 120, a first volatile memory 130, a first nonvolatile memory 140, a print engine unit 150, and a recording unit. The storage medium 160, the first interface unit 170, and the first controller 180 are included.

The first input unit 110 includes at least one operation button for inputting various user commands. The signal according to the user command input through the first input unit 110 is provided to the first controller 180, and the first controller 180 controls the printer 100 in response to the signal according to the input user command. .

The first display unit 120 displays various user notification messages in response to a user command or under the control of the first controller 180.

In the first display unit 120 according to the present invention, a disallowed notification message is displayed. Here, the disallowed notification message refers to a message indicating that the identification information of the determination target host device does not exist in the permission list and thus the permission of the printer 100 has not been granted. However, according to an exemplary embodiment, the disallowed notification message may be configured to be displayed on the second display unit 220 of the host device 200.

The first volatile memory 130 temporarily stores data generated during the operation of the printer 100.

The first nonvolatile memory 140 stores a first control program for overall control of the printer 100.

The first interface unit 170 is provided as an interface for connecting the host apparatus 200 to a wired or wireless network.

The print request signal and data on the document to be printed are received from the host apparatus 200 through the first interface unit 170 according to the present invention. The print request signal is generated when a print command of a document to be printed is input through the second input unit 210 of the host device 200 and includes identification information of the host device to be determined. Here, the identification information of the determination target host device is identification information for distinguishing the determination target host device from other host devices, and when the network card is applied as the second interface unit 260, the physical address of the network card is applied. Can be.

The print engine 150 performs a print job on a document to be printed under the control of the first controller 180. That is, the print engine 150 performs a print job using the recording agent stored in the recording medium storage medium 160.

The recording medium storage medium 160 stores a recording medium for expressing the document to be printed on the printing paper. It is preferable that toner is applied as the recording agent. In addition, a toner cartridge is preferably applied to the recording medium storage medium 160.

In the case of a monochrome printer, one recording medium is used, so one recording medium storage medium is used.

When there is only one recording medium storage medium in the color printer, the recording medium for each color may be stored in a partitioned space in the recording medium storage medium. On the other hand, when there are a plurality of recording medium storage media in a color printer, different color recording media may be stored for each recording medium storage medium.

According to the present invention, a customer replacement unit memory (CRUM) is provided at a predetermined position of the recording medium storage medium 160.

The replacement product management memory 165 according to the present invention is a type developed from a conventional recording management memory, and the number of printed pages, the number of models printed, the model name, the product serial number, Information on various alternatives applied to the printer and various alternatives management control programs are stored.

In addition, the substitute product management memory 165 according to the present invention stores a license list. Here, the permission list means a list of user host devices that are permitted to use the printer 100, and includes identification information of each host device that is permitted to use the printer 100.

The first controller 180 controls and manages the printer 100 according to the first control program stored in the first nonvolatile memory 140.

When the host device 200 plays the role of an administrator host device and the identification information of the user host device is received, the first controller 180 can determine the user host device received in the permission list stored in the substitute product management memory 165. Control to update the identification information. In addition, when the license list is received, the first controller 180 controls the license list to be updated in the substitute management memory 165.

When the host device 200 plays the role of the determination target host device and receives identification information of the determination target host device included in the print request signal, the first controller 180 identifies the determination target host device from the print request signal. Information is read, and a permission list stored in the substitute product management memory 165 is read, and it is determined whether identification information of the target host device is present in the read permission list.

As a result of the determination, when the identification information exists, the first control unit 180 controls to perform a print job on the print target document.

As a result of the determination, when the identification information does not exist, the first controller 180 controls the disallowed notification message to be generated and displayed on the first display unit 120, and controls the print job for the print target document to be stopped.

The host device 200 according to the present invention includes a second input unit 210, a second display unit 220, a second volatile memory 230, a second nonvolatile memory 240, a permission management program 250, and a second input unit 210. And a second interface unit 260 and a second control unit 270.

Various user commands are input to the second input unit 210. As the second input unit 210, a keyboard, a mouse, or the like may be applied. The signal corresponding to the user command input through the second input unit 210 is provided to the second control unit 270, and the second control unit 270 controls the host device 200 in response to the signal according to the input user command. do.

When the host device 200 plays the role of the determination target host device, a print command is input to the print target document through the second input unit 210.

In addition, when the host device 200 plays the role of an administrator host device, identification information of at least one user host device that permits the use of the printer 100 is input through the second input unit 210. The identification information of the user host device may be input through a user interface 255 of the license management program 250 described below. In addition, a list generation command is input to request generation of a permission list based on identification information of at least one user host device input through the second input unit 210.

The second display unit 220 displays various user notification messages in response to a user command or under the control of the second control unit 270.

According to the present invention, under the control of the second controller 270, the user interface 255 provided by the license management program 250 may be displayed on the second display unit 220.

The second volatile memory 230 temporarily stores data generated during various work processes of the host device 200.

The second nonvolatile memory 240 stores a second control program that can control the host device 200 as a whole.

The license management program 250 according to the present invention is software used by an administrator to manage each user host device. The permission management program 250 may be stored in the second nonvolatile memory 240. The license management program 250 according to the present invention may provide a user interface 255 configured to input identification information of each user host device.

The license management program 250 according to the present invention may generate a license list by using the identification information of the input user host device. In this case, the permission list is generated based on the list generation command through the second input unit 210.

The second interface unit 260 is an interface corresponding to the first interface unit 170 of the printer 100, and is provided to be connected to the printer 100 by a wired or wireless network.

When the host device 200 plays the role of an administrator host device, identification information of the user host device is transmitted to the printer 100 through the second interface unit 260. In addition, the permission list is transmitted to the printer 100 through the second interface unit 260.

When the host device 200 plays the role of the determination target host device, the print request signal and the data of the print target document are transmitted to the printer 100 through the second interface unit 260.

The second controller 270 generally controls the host device 200 according to the second control program stored in the second nonvolatile memory 240.

When the host apparatus 200 plays a role of the determination target host apparatus and a print command is input to the print target document through the second input unit 210, the second control unit 270 generates a print request signal. 2 controls the print request signal generated through the interface unit 260 to be transmitted to the printer (200). However, the print request signal is generated to include identification information of the determination target host device.

When the host device 200 plays the role of an administrator host device and the identification information of the user host device is input through the second input unit 210, the second control unit 270 uses the user through the second interface unit 260. The identification information of the host device is controlled to be transmitted to the printer 100. In addition, when the permission list is generated by the permission management program 250, the second control unit 270 controls the permission list generated through the second interface unit 260 to be transmitted to the printer 100. .

3 is a flowchart illustrating a method of controlling a printer according to the present invention.

1 to 3, when a print request signal for a print target document is received from the determination target host device 200 in operation S310, the determination target host included in the print request signal by the first controller 180. Identification information of the device 200 is read (S320).

In addition, the permission list stored in the substitute product management memory 165 is read by the first controller 180 (S330).

In operation S340, it is determined whether the identification information of the determination target host device read in the permission list by the first controller 180 exists.

As a result of the determination, when the identification information exists (S340), the print job of the print target document is performed under the control of the first controller 180 (S350).

On the contrary, if the identification information does not exist (S340), the disallowed notification message is displayed on the first display unit 120 under the control of the first controller 180 (S360). In addition, the printing operation of the document to be printed is stopped under the control of the first controller 180 (S370).

As described so far, according to the image forming apparatus and the control method thereof according to the present invention, the identification information of the user host apparatus, which is permitted to use the image forming apparatus, is stored in the substitute product management memory of the image forming apparatus as an authorization list. By enabling the use of the forming apparatus and prohibiting the use of the image forming apparatus of the user host apparatus which is not permitted to use the image forming apparatus, the user host apparatus can be collectively managed. That is, the use of an image forming apparatus of an unauthorized user host device may be restricted. Thus, indiscriminate use of the image forming apparatus can be prevented, thereby reducing waste of consumables.

Although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to exemplary embodiments above, those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains can make various modifications to the above-described embodiments without departing from the scope of the present invention. I will understand. Therefore, the scope of the present invention should not be limited to the described embodiments, but should be defined by the claims below and equivalents thereof.

Claims (5)

An image forming apparatus capable of performing a print job on the basis of a recording medium stored in a recording medium storage medium, the data of a document to be printed from a host device, A replacement part management memory provided in the recording medium storage medium and storing a permission list which is a list of identification information of a device which is permitted to use the image forming apparatus; And If the identification information of the host device is received from the host device, the license list is processed to be read. If the identification information of the host device is not present in the read permission list, the printing of the document to be printed is performed. And a first controller configured to process the job to be interrupted. The method of claim 1, And the first controller is configured to process a print job of the document to be printed when identification information of the host device exists in the read permission list. The method of claim 1, If the identification information of the host device does not exist in the read permission list, the first display unit for displaying a disallowed notification message indicating that the use of the image forming apparatus generated by the first control unit is disallowed; An image forming apparatus, characterized in that. A control method of an image forming apparatus capable of performing a print job on the basis of a recording medium stored in a recording medium storage medium, the data of a document to be printed from a host device, When the identification information of the host device is received from the host device, the license list, which is a list of identification information of the device that is permitted to use the image forming apparatus, is read from the substitute product management memory provided in the recording medium storage medium. The step; Determining whether identification information of the host device exists in the read permission list; And And stopping the printing of the document to be printed when identification information of the host apparatus is not present in the permission list. The method of claim 4, wherein Generating a disallow notification message indicating that use of the image forming apparatus is disabled when identification information of the host apparatus does not exist in the read permission list; And And displaying the generated disallowed notification message.

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